[huhnmonster]

In Germany, we have two different institutions: Universities (identical to US university I guess) and something called Fachhochschule (I don't know if there even is a correct translation for that, lets call it FH).

University is focused on covering the theoretical aspect of computers with a lesser focus on practical applications - although they are thought to some extent - while FH is more focused on building applications and real-life systems with a smaller focus on theoretical aspects.

The only problem is that FH has long been considered second class and everyone wants to attend university. but in my opinion and based on my experience, many people would be a better fit for FH.

For someone deciding whether to attend Uni or FH, it is often not easy because you cannot guess what you are going to do in your work-life and whether you might enjoy research or you would rather go into industry directly.

Aside from that though, I think it is great that we have different institutions for different audiences with differing goals. Does something like that exist in the United States or somewhere else in the world?

[irrational]

Well, the equivalent for Fachhochschule in the United States are called Trade Schools. But trade schools typically teach things like Aircraft mechanic, train engineer, welding, etc. While I'm sure there are some trade schools that teach programming, typically you would go to a more dedicated place like a coding bootcamp.

Often universities will have separate computer science and software engineering degrees. The first is more academically oriented (for those who want to get a PhD in computer science) and the other for people who want a job as a developer.

[dakna]

> the equivalent for Fachhochschule in the United States are called Trade Schools

This is not true. Students can get accredited Master's degrees at a University of Applied Science. Some of the Universities even do research.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fachhochschule

I'm not aware of any trade school in the US where students can get higher credentials than a certificate or associates degree.

[AtlasBarfed]

FH == Community College / 2 year schools?

[stevegalla]

It doesn't appear to be.

From Wikipedia, "There is another type of university in Germany: the Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Sciences), which offer mostly the same degrees as Universitäten, but often concentrate on applied science (as the English name suggests) and usually have no power to award PhD-level degrees, at least not in their own right... The FH Diploma is roughly equivalent to a bachelor's degree."[0]

There doesn't seem to be a community college equivalent in continental Europe [1].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Germany

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_college